I was born in Kosovo but grew up in Denmark. I was just 2 when I arrived here, and I feel very Danish. Until I started my own company I worked for two years as a guard at an asylum centre. I quite liked the work, but it was hard. There were 880 people there, and I was on my own from 6 pm to 6 am. I chose to work there because I myself had been an asylum seeker. I once borrowed a van, and drove out to Kirkens Korshær, and other similar charity shops, and asked if they had any bicycles to give away. I eventually returned with 12-14 bikes and gave them away to the first who turned up. The next 3-4 hours there was constant knocking on my door and shouting “gimme a bike”, but I had run out.
I chose to marry someone from Kosovo. When I was at the Dybbøl school we were 22 children in my class, and all the parents, except from a set of twin girls, were divorced. It’s something entirely different being with an Albanian girl, a different kind of love. I have never fallen in love with a Danish girl, or felt I had to. It is also my experience that Danish girls are often promiscuous. I have known many girls with steady boyfriends who also went with other guys. Someone in my family knew my future wife. I went to Albania, and after two days we decided to try and have a go of it. I talked with her father, and he gave us his blessing. We have been together since 2010, and now we have two children. At home I speak Danish with the children and Albanian with my wife. We have tried to speak Danish together, but it ends up an awful lot of mumbo jumbo. The children speak Albanian as well as Danish.
28 / married / children / owner of City Car Wash / Sønderborg / from Kosovo / came to Denmark in 1991 / residence permit 1996